The present invention relates generally to telephone circuitry, and more specifically, it concerns a circuit housing or retainer that conveniently clips to connecting block terminals of incoming and outgoing telephone lines.
In recent years, the telephone industry has made great strides in reducing telephone equipment installation and maintenance costs. Thus, for example, modularized systems and circuits have been developed which cost effectively minimize field wiring and simplify installation and testing. In this regard, connecting blocks and maintenance termination units (MTUs) have been developed.
Various types of connecting blocks such as the "66 type block" for telephone wire circuits or pairs have been designed to offer increased flexibility of wiring arrangements and reduced costs (where fewer distribution terminals are needed). The development of MTUs have enabled telephone personnel to effectively and efficiently detect faults in telephone wiring from remote locations. As a further convenience with respect to these particular modularized circuits and systems, AT&T manufactures a MTU module specifically designed for attachment to a connecting block.
The AT&T MTU module is an integral unit and has no replacement parts. One disadvantage of a MTU module of this design is that it can only be utilized in connection with the "66 type" connecting blocks since the unit includes mounting devices which allow it to be mounted only to this particular connecting block. Thus, the AT&T MTU module cannot be used conveniently in conjunction with other types of connectors or in other types of enclosures, for example network interface enclosures of the type manufactured by KEPTEL, e.g. the SNI 2100 and 2200.